"Yesss, I think so, Gillian. That is, so long as that-t remains stable." She gestured through a port, toward the seacliff that loomed over their hybrid ship.

Gillian looked up at the hulking mass of rock, visible through cracks in the Thennanin armor. "I'd forgotten about that. We'd better keep an eye on it."

She turned back to the holo display, watching the spreading pattern of disturbances.

Come on, Hikahi! she urged silently. Pick up Toshio and the others and get back here! I have to make a decision soon, and you might get back too late!

The minutes passed. Several times the water seemed to tremble as a low rumble passed through the seafloor.

Gillian watched the blue globe of Kithrup. A string of flickering yellow pinponts spread gradually northward, like an angry wound in the planet's side. Finally, the yellow dots merged with a small group of tiny islands in the northeast quadrant.

That's where Tom is, she remembered.

Suddenly the comm operator thrashed at his station. "Commander! I'm gett-ting a transmission! And it'sss in Anglic!"

103 ::: Tom Orley

He held the microphone awkwardly. It had been designed for alien hands. Tom ran his tongue over his cracked lips. He didn't have time to go over his speech once more: Company would be arriving any moment now.

He pressed the transmit lever.

"Creideiki!" He spoke carefully. "Listen carefully! Record and replay for Gillian! She'll interpret!"

He knew every ship in near-space was listening to this transmitter by now. Probably a large number of them were already on their way here. If he composed his new lies properly, he could make sure even more of them came.

"My direct wire to the ship is broken," he said. "And a hundred kilometers is a long way to have to carry a message, so I'll risk this new coder, hoping it's not been broken in all the fighting here."

That last was a tissue of fantasies for Galactic consumption. Now for the real message. Hidden in context, he had to tell Streaker what he knew.

"Jill? Our egg hatched, hon. And a zoo spilled out. A zoo of fierce critters!

"But I came across only one bedraggled sample of the brand we're shopping for. I've heard clues it's still for sale, on higher shelves, but those have been just clues. You and H and C are going to have to decide on that basis.

"Remember when old Jake Demwa took us along with him on that mission to the central Library on Tanith? Remember what he said about hunches? Tell Creideiki about it. It's his decision, but my gut feeling is, follow Jake's advice!"

He felt a thickening in his throat. He should cut this off: No sense in letting the Eatees zero in too closely.

"Jill." He coughed. "Hon I'm out of the game now. Get Herbie and the rest of the data to the Council. And those abos, too. I've got to believe all this has been worth it."

He closed his eyes and gripped the mike. "When you see old Jake, hoist a glass with him for me, will you?"

He wanted to say more, but realized that he was already getting a little too unambiguous. He couldn't afford to let the Galactics' language computers figure out what he was talking about.

He pursed his lips. And bid adieu in a language designed for such things.

* Petals floating by,

* Drift through my woman's hand,

* As she remembers me — *

The carrier wave hissed until he cut the circuit.

He rose and carried the radio outside. Carefully approaching the edge of an open pool, he dropped the transmitter in. If anyone had locked into a resonance with the crystals in the set, that Eatee would have to dive for it.

He stood there, by the pool, and watched the low clouds roll past, dark and heavy with unspent rain.

They'd be arriving any moment. His weapons were at his belt, and his breathing tube, and a full canteen. He was ready for them.

He was standing that way, watching and waiting, when the steaming volcano on the horizon began to growl, then cough, then angrily spout bright fireworks into the sky.

The bridge was a blur. Gillian's eyes swam, but when she blinked the tears would not bead and drop away. Her eyes clung to them, like precious things.

"Shall we answer?" Tsh't spoke softly from next to her."

Gillian shook her head. No, she tried to say. But she could only mouth the word. Telempathically, she sensed the sympathy of those around her.

How can I mourn, she wondered, when I can still feel him faintly? He is still alive out there, somewhere.

How can I mourn?

She felt a swirl of movement as a fin approached cautiously and tried to report to Tsh't without disturbing her.

Gillian pressed her burning eyelids together. The tears flowed at last, in narrow trails down her cheeks. She couldn't reach under her mask to brush them away, so she let them lie. When she opened her eyes, her vision had cleared.

"I heard that, Wattaceti. Which way is Takkata-Jim headed?"

"Toward the Galactic flotillas, Commander. Though the fleets seem to be in chaosss! They are boiling every which way, after the confusion caused by that psi-burst. A major free-for-all is shaping up above… above Mr. Orley's position."

Gillian nodded. "We'll wait a little while longer. Go to condition yellow and keep me informed."

Off-duty personnel were called to their posts. Suessi and D'Anite reported that the engines were warm.

Last chance, Hikahi, Gillian thought. Are you coming?

"Gillian!" Lucky Kaa called. With his harness arm he pointed out one of the ports. "The cliff!"

Gillian hurried over and looked where the pilot indicated. The entire mass of rock was trembling. Cracks began to appear in the great wall that towered over Streaker.

"Lift stations!" Gillian commanded. "Tsh't, take us out of here!"

104 ::: Galactics

Cullcullabra bowed low before the Soro Krat.

"Have you interpreted the human's broadcast?" She snapped.

The stocky Pil bowed again, backing away slightly. "No, Fleet-Mother, not completely. The human spoke in their two doggerel languages called 'Anglic' and 'Trinary.' We have translation programs for both, of course, but they are so chaotic and contextual — unlike any civilized language…"

The Librarian flinched as Krat hissed at him. "Have you nothing?"

"Mistress, we think the last part of his message, in the dolphin-speech, may be the important part. It might have been a command to his clients, or…"

The Librarian piped dismay and dodged back into his station as a ling-plum missed him by inches.

"Hypotheses! Tentative conjectures!" Krat stormed. "Even the Tandu boil with excitement and send expedition after futile piddling expedition to the site on the planet's surface from which the message emanated. And we must, perforce, follow, no?"

She stared about. Her crew avoided her gaze.

"Has anyone even a hypothesis to explain that psi-assault which struck a short time ago, and seems to have disoriented every sophont in the system? Was that also, a chimera of the Earthlings? Are the volcanoes that fill our instruments with static mere trickery?"

The crew tried to look simultaneously busy and attentive. No one wanted to risk the ire of the fleet mother.

A Paha warrior strode from the office of detection.

"Mistress," it announced. "We did not notice before because of the volcanoes, but there has been a launching from the planet's surface."

Krat felt a turn of glee. This was what she had been waiting for! Though she had sent ships of her own to the site of the radio messages, she had kept the core of her fleet together.

"Diversions! They were all diversions! The radio calls, the psi attacks, even the volcanoes!"